A second chance at love
by meggyneedzalife
Summary: After Ran decides to leave conan, he believes that he can never love anyone again until a certain someone changes that.
1. Chapter 1

**HIYA! This will be my second Detective Conan story. This story will feature Conan and Haibara because I believe that Haibara deserves to have her own love life considering the crap she's been through. I love the couple and I kind of hope it happens but I doubt it because of the strong relationship between Shinichi and Ran. I do not own detective Conan or the characters in this story all credit goes to Gosho Aoyama and TV Tokyo. The only thing I own is this idea for a story.**

**Prologue: **

Ran has gotten tired of waiting for Shinichi and decides to call it off with him over the phone. Shinichi is heartbroken and tries to explain to her that he's only being distant to protect her, but Ran doesn't want any more of his excuses and claims that it's hard for her to do this but this is her decision and she hopes that he will respect it. Shinichi finally breaks down and in one last ditch effort tells her the truth. Ran is stunned and sad that she didn't realize it sooner. Ran is heard crying on the other end of the line while Shinichi tries to hold back his own sorrow. Ran tells him that she cares for him but the truth is that she is leaving Tokyo to go to college and that Araide has asked her hand in marriage and she accepted his proposal. Shinichi completely falls apart but goes ahead and continues his conversation with Ran claiming that he hopes she finds happiness and love. He hangs up the phone. Shinichi is a total mess. He presses his back against the back of the booth and slides down to the ground clutching his knees like a lost child.

**Chapter 1: lost and found**

The next few weeks were hell for Conan. He refused to do anything after that. He wouldn't eat or sleep, play or even solve cases, he didn't care anymore. The girl he loved had literally ripped his heart out and stepped on it. Conan was mute, he refused to talk, laugh, or show any childish emotions except a blank stare he gave everyone. His friends thought he was just upset because Ran was leaving they were all upset, Ran was their friend too. No one knew that Ran was responsible for permanently destroying this child.

Haibara was the only one who knew what was going on. After Conan's conversation on the phone with Ran he called Haibara unexpectedly and told her what had happened. She wasn't sure of what to say to this broken boy. The strangest thing was that he refused to talk to anyone but Haibara. Most of the time Conan would go to his house and just sit on the steps looking at the sky which always upset him and broke him more. On occasion he would go to Dr. Agasa's house and stay the night but that was as far as it went. He was distraught and completely lost. Haibara didn't blame him for the way he felt. Anyone who has gone through as much as him has every reason to be upset but upset was putting it mildly. She just wished that she could do something to help this broken child.

The days went on and he didn't seem like he was getting any better instead it looked like he was getting worse his appearance was proof of that. He looked thinner, dead-like, almost like a walking skeleton. Haibara and the detective boys were noticing this. Half of the time he wouldn't show up to school. Occasionally the kids would visit the agency but he was never there. Haibara walked past him a couple of times in the city but he would never say anything back to her. She had enough she was going to bring him back no matter what.

She saw him again later that day and that's when she decided to test her trick. She waited in an alleyway and waited patiently for him to come closer then she grabbed him. He was surprised and his face showed it. Haibara grabbed the collar of his shirt and held him in the air.

"Stop this childish behavior Kudou!" Haibara yelled at him. He was completely taken back by this.

"Put me down!" Conan yelled back at her. She raised him higher in the air.

"Stop this Kudou, you're killing yourself!" Conan glared at her.

"I DON'T CARE!" this time Haibara was the one surprised. She cared so much for this kid but yet he did not care about her enough to stop his childish tantrum. Haibara was fed up with him; she tossed him on the ground. "Fine, waste away and die for all I care." Conan looked up at her shocked. She started to walk away until he called to her.

"Haibara why?" Haibara looked back at him and sighed.

"It's because I love you." Conan was taken aback by this statement. Haibara was in tears. "I've loved you since I met you, I loved the person you were, but you've changed; now you're just pathetic."

Conan picked himself off of the ground and ran up to her and grabbed her hand. "Stop, please Ai." she looked at him. "Is that true what you said or are you just joking like you always do."

"You really think I would be crying if I wasn't serious?" Conan was even more surprised now.

"_I've been so blind, why didn't I see it sooner." _He thought to himself. He felt like a total jerk and idiot, this was so not like him to act this way, to give up on everything he loved, it was pathetic. Conan grabbed Haibara's shoulder and turned her around to face him, that's when he embraced her in his arms.

"Kudou what're you…" She started to say but was interrupted by the unexpected embrace.

"Thank you." Ai could feel him shaking in her arms then he did the unexpected, he cried.

"C'mon Conan you're too much of a tough guy to act like this." Looking at the scene before her reminded her of the first time she met Conan when she broke down like this too. Conan stayed in Haibara's arms for what seemed like an eternity. She had to admit she was happy to finally be holding the one she loved in her arms but the fact that such a strong boy was crying upset her.

"Hey Conan, why don't we go get something to eat?" Conan looked up at Ai with his tear streaked face.

"Huh?"Was all he managed to say. Haibara sighed again.

"You look like the living dead! you need to eat something." Conan looked at himself. He was hella boney.

"No, its okay I'll be fine." But his stomach said otherwise cause at that minute it growled. _Feed me dammit! _Is what it seemed to say.

"Yeah, no you're going to eat even if I have to drag your ass." Conan chuckled at Ai's statement and was reluctant to follow but went ahead anyway. She dragged him with her everywhere until they reached a burger stand. Haibara went up to the man and ordered three burgers, two large fries, and two medium drinks to- go. After receiving her purchase she and Conan went to a nearby park bench to sit down, Conan was out of breath. "You're getting old Kudou." She laughed. Conan was completely out of breath and exhausted. He chuckled which made it worse and he cringed. "You're definitely out-of-shape I'll have to fix that." Conan sighed and tried to compose himself. Ai helped Conan onto the bench since he didn't have the energy to climb the high bench. Once on the bench Ai grabbed a burger out of the brown paper bag and handed it to Conan. Conan looked at it for awhile before he took a bite. He was having a hard time eating but forced himself to swallow. "When was the last time you ate?" Conan looked at Ai then back down at his partially eaten burger.

"Five weeks ago." Ai just looked at the ground.

"I'm surprised you're still alive." Ai was sad and ashamed that she didn't do this sooner. If she had maybe he wouldn't be this way right now.

"I can't eat this, I'll probably hurl if I try." Ai could see that he was having a hard time that's when it hit her. _I'm so stupid of course he's having trouble eating; it's just like after WW2. After so long of not eating the soldiers gave the Jewish small rations of bread and hot soup. He needs something to coat his stomach, hot soup would be perfect._

"Just save it for later, I'll get you something you can actually eat,_ more like drink." _Haibara packed up the left over meal, grabbed Conan's hand, and jumped off the bench. She slowly led him into town where she stopped by another restaurant and purchased hot chicken noodle soup for them. She paid for the both of them and took a nearby booth as they waited for the order to arrive. Conan sat opposite of Ai at the booth completely silent. "Say something; you're starting to depress me." Ai inquired. He looked up at her then back at the table. Then she tried again more sweet-like. "What's on your mind?" That got his attention, he looked up again this time he smiled, it was weak but it was still a smile. Ai blushed when she saw his face. Conan laughed weakly,

"Your face is as red as a tomato." Ai turned redder.

"Oh shut up it is not." Ai turned away from Conan and he laughed again.

"I guess I'm just imaging your face turning the color of a tomato."

"I guess so." She was still turned the other way when the waitress walk up with their order. She placed the hot bowls in front of each kid and walked off. Conan picked up his spoon and swirled it around in the bowl while he rested his head on his hand. Ai was slowly sipping her soup and watching the boy sitting across from her.

"Stop playing with your food you are not a child." Ai whispered. Conan didn't seem to be listening he was in his own little world at the moment. "Conan!" He lifted his eyes to stare at her. "Conan you need to eat your soup you'll feel better.

"I don't feel like eating right now."

"Conan, honey you need to eat." Conan was shocked that Ai was being so sweet but it could've been just an act. He rose up gabbing his spoon to eat his soup. He sipped at his soup and was amazed at how much he loved the taste. He began to eat a little faster. "Hey! Don't eat too fast you'll be sick." Conan took her advice and slowed his eating. She smiled as she watched him eat. He stopped when he noticed she was watching him.

"What? What's with that face?" She looked down at her lap embarrassed. "I didn't mean that in a bad way!" he said quickly trying to cover up his mistake. Ai just shook her head slowly.

"No, its fine, it's just..." Conan stared at her with a hard stare as if he was trying to read her thoughts. "It just doesn't feel like this is real it feels more like a dream, I never thought the time would come when I could sit down and tell you my true feelings. It makes me kind of sad because I feel like I'm trying too hard to fill the void in your heart." Conan just sighed and sat back in the booth looking at the ceiling.

"Actually, you're the reason why I'm still alive. It's true that I loved Ran and I'm still heartbroken because she left me, but if you hadn't did what you've done for me today I would probably have just ended my life or gone overseas with my parents to start a new life. Either way, Shinichi Kudou would cease to exist." Ai was completely at a loss for words. "Arigato, Ai-chan." This time Ai just sat back and laughed. Conan was once again confused.

"Shinichi Kudou would never cease to exist, everyone who knows him will treasure the moments spent with him, think about it, the detective boys right now are enjoying every minute spent with you. They may not know who you really are but from what I can tell they seem to enjoy your existence a lot. Do you really think Dr. Agasa would forget about you? You are like a grandson to him he has told me that many times. And what about your friend from the west Hattori, you don't think he would be upset, you are the brother he never had. You aren't just a kid; you're a detective and a damn good one at that. Do you think I would forget about you? I would be just as heartbroken as you right now if something happened to you. "How could you even think of ending your life?" Ai began to get teary-eyed again.

"Haibara."

"Stupid, I'm just being stupid and childish crying like this." She laughed. Conan could tell that Ai was trying to cover up all her emotions by laughing. Still he felt bad for not realizing sooner that her jokes about her loving him were actually true. His mother even mentioned it to him once before but he just ignored it, after all at that time he was still in love with Ran. He remembered that one time when they were rehearsing lines in a play and her in her part she had to say "I Love You." He remembered how embarrassed she was when she had to say that out loud. Conan, being as ignorant as he was about girls just thought she found it embarrassing because she was actually eighteen years old and she was stuck doing kid stuff. He now knew that wasn't the case.

"Ai-Chan should we leave now?" apparently the whole time that he and Ai had been talking Conan had finished his soup.

"Yeah, let's go." She said wiping the last of her tears. Ai and Conan left the restaurant and headed for Agasa's house it was getting late anyways. They arrived home at about six and were greeted by Agasa himself.

"Ai-kun, Conan-kun, nice to see you."

"Likewise Dr. Agasa." Conan responded. He and Ai walked right past him into the house.

"You're looking livelier today Shinichi."

"Yeah." He smiled. Ai began to rub her eyes so he led her up to her room. Once inside he helped her onto her bed and covered her up with a large fleece blanket then tucked her in. She instantly passed out. Conan just smirked and left the room closing it gently to avoid making any noise that might wake up Ai. He then headed back down the stairs into the living room. All Shinichi could think about now was how lucky he was to have someone like Ai by his side. He always thought it would be Ran that he ended up with but now he knew Ai was the only person he would truly love. Agasa noticed the smile on Shinichi's face and was utterly confused. Just a few weeks ago the child wouldn't even show one emotion but now he looked livelier and happier as if nothing ever happened. Agasa was upset himself when he heard that Ran refused to stay with Shinichi, he knew how upset the boy must be to find out that the one person he truly loved was not only leaving the country but also getting married to someone else. After he heard about the conversation between Ran and Shinichi he himself was disappointed in Ran for the decision she made.

Shinichi just kept his head down with his hands in his pockets as he made his way to one of the nearby couches. He sat down with his arms folded behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.

"You seem to be doing better Shinichi." Agasa smiled as he sat on the couch across from Shinichi.

"It's all thanks to Ai; she's the one to thank." Agasa was quiet as he listened to Shinichi talk about all the things that Ai had done for him earlier that day. "She's really amazing." He was stunned that Shinichi was talking so much about Ai that he was starting to think that maybe Shinichi was developing a crush on her, which was true. By about 9 Shinichi finally decided to call it quits and asked the doctor if it was okay to stay the night which was fine with him of course. Doctor Agasa was just happy to have his "Grandson" back again. After Shinichi fell asleep on the couch Agasa covered the boy up, shut off the lights and headed upstairs to his bedroom. He was truly grateful to Ai for bringing back the old Shinichi he cared so much for. He would ask her why she did it later but for now all he wanted was some good-old sleep. Tomorrow would be a busy day.

**I hope you all enjoyed my story I enjoyed writing this a lot mostly because I love this couple and I think that if Shinichi really did pay attention to Ai's feelings that this couple probably would happen, but its futile. Anyway leave a comment if you have questions or if u wanna talk. Hope to hear from ya, next chapter will be out soon so yeah laterz peoplez. XD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! I heard that a lot of you liked the first chapter so I hope you'll like chapter 2. I will tell you right now, I'm not sure how great this will turn out but I will try my best to make this good so I hope you all enjoy Chapter 2 of ASCAL.**

**Chapter 2: trouble at the arcade**

Conan was slowly making improvement. Thanks to Haibara, he had started to eat again though he still didn't have a lot of energy to start daily activities. She had finally convinced him to return back to school which he wasn't too happy about but, still he decided in the end that that would be his best option at the moment. When he finally came back his friends nearly suffocated him. He had to admit he was actually starting to miss his old gang, but now that he was here he kind of wished he had just stayed home. They would not leave him alone! I mean he literally could not concentrate on school work because they showered him with questions about how he was feeling, what he was going to do after school, how he felt about the weather, and if he had watched the new Masked Yaiba episode and so on. He wished he could shut off his hearing and listen only to the sound of sweet silence.

Conan got lucky, at that moment the teacher walked in and the classroom went silent. She looked over at Conan and smiled, "Welcome back, Conan-kun." Conan just gave her a fake smile like he was actually happy to be there. Haibara knew that it was all an act because the minute the teacher looked away Conan sighed under his breath and let his head hit the desk with a loud thud. The kids around him laughed, Ai chuckled too. She nudged him with her elbow and he looked over at her.

"Sit up! The teacher's turning this way." Ai whispered. Conan slowly sat up just in time before the teacher saw him. She looked around the classroom trying to scout out the kid who caused the ruckus in her perfectly quiet classroom, but unfortunately was unsuccessful. It went like that the entire day, every time the teacher faced the chalkboard the class laughed but when she turned to face her students the room was quiet. That was because Conan was getting so bored that he was making faces and unnecessary noises on purpose to get the class riled up just so he didn't fall asleep. "You're such a child." Ai smiled.

Conan was happy when the school bell rang. "Finally!" he sighed as he left the school grounds with Ai. Just as the two were about to head for home Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta came running up.

"Hey Conan, we're heading over to the arcade to play the new Masked Yaiba game, you wanna come?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"No, I have things I have to do."

"What about you Ai, you wanna come?" Ayumi asked.

"I'll pass too."

"You guys are no fun."

"Please Conan-kun, please Ai-chan." Ayumi pleaded. Conan and Ai looked at each other and sighed. They knew they would never hear the end of it unless they went too.

"Fine." They both said in an inaudible voice.

**Later at the arcade **

Mitsuhiko was busy playing the Masked Yaiba game and failing horribly at it and Genta was behind him waiting for his turn. Ayumi had run off to play a nearby claw machine and Ai was playing a brain teaser game leaving Conan to walk around aimlessly for the time being. For almost an hour he walked around completely caught in his thoughts. If it was a year ago the only thing he would be thinking of was trying to get his original body back but now he could care less about it after all he wasn't with Ran anymore. Now he had Haibara. He was still heartbroken but Ai made him feel like he was wanted again. Even though he didn't love her because he still loved Ran, but he was happy to know that someone like Ai loved him. After walking aimlessly for the longest time he came across Ayumi just as she had won a prize from the claw machine.

"I won! This must be my lucky day." Ayumi exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Good job Ayumi." She turned and looked at him in surprise.

"Hey, Conan-kun!" Ayumi smiled at him brightly. She ran over to get her prize but realized it had somehow gotten lodged in the drop box. "Aww, it got stuck." Conan sighed and walked off.

"I'll go see if I can get someone to help us." He came back not even a minute later. When he got there so was everyone else except Haibara.

"Any luck?" they all asked.

"Pfff! Hell no, the man at the desk said he had better things to do than help a bunch of kids."

"I bet if we had someone small enough they could crawl in through the slot and retrieve it." Mitsuhiko stated looking up at the machine.

"_Yeah, I wonder who would actually be stupid enough to try that?"_ Shinichi thought to himself. Just then everyone looked over at Conan and he sweat dropped. _"Of course, how did I know that was coming?"_ Unfortunately he got talked into it. He crawled through the small opening and grabbed Ayumi's plushy and was just about to leave the machine when someone walked by so he dove into the sea of fluffiness. The kids quickly hid until the coast was clear. Not even a moment later a tall brown haired teen in his black high school uniform walked up to the machine and put a coin in. The claw started moving and then unexpectedly Conan's shirt got snagged when the claw came down on the teddy bear next to him. The claw ended up getting him instead. The young teen stared at Conan wide eyed. _"Oh hell no! anyone but him!" _Shinichi mentally yelled. He was dragged over into the drop box and down the chute. "Ow!" Conan yelled and rubbed his back.

"Holy crap!" the teen exclaimed still surprised.

"Shit."

"I was just trying to get a teddy bear for my girlfriend but I got a little detective instead, awesome!"

"_Why does this have to happen to me now? Why do I have to be with this guy again."_

"Nice to see you Tantei-kun." Kid smiled at Conan.

"This is fan-fucking-tastic!"Shinichi stated sarcastically.

"You're just happy to see me and you know it." Kid gave Conan one of his cheesy grins.

"As if! I rather be in a pit with a bunch of alligators!" Conan was starting to get irritated.

"I see you're back." From the tone of Kid's voice you could tell that he was happy that his rival was back to his normal self. "It's been kinda boring without you Tantei-kun." Kid pretended to wipe tears from his eyes. He couldn't remember the last time that Shinichi had tried to catch him. It had been almost a month now.

"I see you haven't changed. You still have the same annoying optimistic attitude. And the only teen I know of who has a phobia of fish." He gave Conan the kind of look that could set a building ablaze. Kid then suddenly kneeled down until he was eye level with Conan.

"Tantei-kun I need to talk to you privately." The phantom thief's tone changed from happy-go-lucky to completely serious. Conan was shocked. He had never in his life heard Kid sound so serious. He didn't like the idea of leaving with the phantom thief but something wasn't right and he wanted to know what it was.

"Conan, where are you going?" Haibara appeared out of nowhere. "Why are you leaving with kid?" She gripped his arm to avoid him from leaving.

"Shhhhhh!" Conan gestured with his other hand

"It's no secret. Your conversation was loud enough. So just to let you know everyone is aware you are talking to Kaito Kid now." Haibara pointed behind her. There was one lady on the phone at the back of the room dialing 911.

"Shit! Tantei-kun you're coming with me." Conan wasn't given the chance to refuse; Kid picked him up and flew off crashing through the glass roof of the arcade. All of Conan's friends were speechless. They could not believe that their friend had just been abducted by the famous phantom thief Kid.

Kid flew for what seemed like hours it was almost dark by the time he landed.

"Dammit Kid let go of me." Kid gently set the squirming Conan down as he landed on the roof of a nearby building. "What the hell was that all about? At least warn me before you crash through glass roofs" Conan fumed. His forehead had a gash on it from the impact even though Kid had shielded him for the most part. The thief just smirked.

"Gozaimasu, Tantei-kun." Kid scratched the back of his head apologetically.

"And was it really necessary to kidnap me?" He was still mad.

"I figured you wouldn't listen to me any other way." Conan was beginning to get pissed. He was hoping to spend the whole day with Haibara but instead got talked into going to the stupid arcade and then got kidnapped by his greatest opponent. He couldn't imagine his day getting any worse but unfortunately for him it did.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I got some bad news about your little girlfriend."

"Haibara is not my girlf… Oh you mean Ran?"

"Who else did you think I was talking about?"

"Nevermind." Conan started blushing as he thought of Haibara.

"Huh?" Kid looked confused

"Forget it. So what was that about Ran?" Conan quickly changed the subject.

"Sorry to tell you but your girlfriend has been captured by the Black Organization."

"She's not my girlfr….What?"

**Oooooo Cliffhanger. Lol I know the chapter was kind of short but oh well, soooooo hope you enjoyed. Let me know if you have any ideas on how to make it better. Next chapter will be up soon. Luv ya all!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hiya! Welcome to chapter 3 of " a second chance at love." The last chapter left off where Conan finds out that that his childhood friend Ran has been captured by the Black Organization. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Previously: **

"_I have bad news about your girlfriend."_

"_She's not my girlfr….what?"_

Conan was completely silent for a second. He could not believe what he just heard.

"Could you repeat that again. Did you just say that Ran was captured by the Black Organization?"

"Yes that's exactly what I said."

"You have to be kidding right? Ran is in another country right now she told me so herself over the phone."

"She lied."

"What?" Conan became confused.

"I've been watching you guys very closely." Kid stated in a serious tone.

"So, in other words you've been stalking us." Shinichi just sweat dropped.

"In a way…yes."

"Stalker!" Conan was disgusted by kid. How could he do such a thing? That conversation was private it was strictly between Ran and himself why did Kid have to ruin the privacy.

"I only did it because I noticed recently that something was wrong. When she stopped talking to you I became suspicious so I looked into the matter out of pure curiosity."

"Uh huh…so what did you find out?" He was mad but curious at the same time.

"Well apparently she has been making phone calls everywhere to different pharmacies."

"Pharmacies?" Now Shinichi was really curious._ "What could Ran really hope to achieve by calling pharmacies?"_

"You still don't understand?"

"Should I?" He was completely dumbfounded.

"She's been looking for a cure for your condition!" Shinichi wasn't sure how to react. Was it all the truth? Was it all lies? or was it just empty words?

"That's a lie. She was going to marry Araide why would she care about helping me when she has more important things to attend to?"

"She lied about it all. She only told you she was marrying someone else so that she could secretly find the cure herself! She still loves you deeply I know it." Now Shinichi was in shock. This whole time he thought that Ran loved someone else it never occurred to him that she could be lying about it. He felt like a total idiot for it now but he was still mad that she lied to him.

Kid walked over to the edge of the building leaning over the rail looking at the lit up city below him. His white cape blew in the cool breeze of the night. He tilted his head up towards the stars letting the cool night air caress his face. Shinichi by this time was completely at a loss for words. He kept thinking about what Kid had just said but it didn't seem to register in his mind. Did she really do that for him or was it all lies. Kid noticed how quiet Conan had gotten and decided to speak up first. "So what's your plan now Tantei-kun?" Kid smirked and looked over his shoulder at Shinichi.

Shinichi smirked back. "I'm gonna need help."

"No way am I getting involved, I have some business to take care of." Conan looked at kid with a weird look and sighed.

"I wasn't going to ask for your help anyway." Kid turned back towards the lit up city and smiled.

"_You say that now but sooner or later you're going to need me." _Kid said under his breath. Conan looked over at Kid.

"Does her father know?"

"No, but I heard that he's getting pretty worried since she hasn't called or sent a letter in almost three weeks."

"That's not good. Kid, take me home immediately! I have to help her!"

Kid smirked then grabbed Conan flying off into the night. He arrived at Agasa's house at about eight. Kid flew off leaving a frantic Shinichi to come busting through the door. "Haibara! Doc!" Doctor Agasa and Haibara came running outside to meet Shinichi.

"Whats wrong Kudou-kun!"

Shinichi was panicking he was almost out of breath. "Ran, Ran has been captured by the Black Organization!"

"Nani?" Agasa wasn't expecting that and neither was Haibara.

"I knew something was up."

"Huh?"

"Kudou-kun come inside and I'll explain." Haibara motioned for Shinichi to follow her and Agasa tagged along behind them. Once inside Haibara flicked on the TV to the news channel. The man on the news sat at the desk with a piece of paper in front of him.

"_This just in, Famous detective Mouri Kogorou just pronounced today at 8:30 that his only daughter; Young 18 year old Mouri Ran has gone missing. Apparently she was last heard of on Friday May 14__th__ of this year. It is said that she last contacted her father three weeks ago. Investigators everywhere are currently searching. If you have any information regarding this missing teen please contact the authority immediately._ Haibara then shut off the TV. Shinichi was speechless. _"Ran, you idiot you didn't have to do that." _He just sat on the couch aggravated and exhausted. _"What do I do now? If I tell the authorities that I know who took her I seriously doubt they'll take the word of a kid unless…"_

"Haibara, I need you to make me a prototype of the antidote."

"I knew that was coming, here take it." Haibara walked over to Conan and placed a small red and white capsule in the palm of his hand.

"Arigato Haibara-chan." Conan took the capsule and slid it in his pants pocket. "How much time do I have?"

"About 24 hours but considering that the effects wear off faster on you; I'd say you have about 12 hours at most."

"Ok then. I need to be wise and use it only when necessary."

"I'm glad you are using your head this time. I made an extra just in case, but I will keep it with me; after all I'm coming with you."

"Haibara I don't want you to get hurt, I think it would be best that you stay here."

"Don't give me that excuse Kudou, I'm coming with you!" Shinichi was against the idea but he knew he needed all the help he could get if he was going to save Ran.

"Ok, fine, suit yourself." Shinichi didn't feel like arguing with her and besides he had no time to waste he had only had three days left to save his best friend.

He then pulled out his bright red cell phone and was about to dial Heiji's number when his cell phone started ringing. Conan answered the phone to be greeted by a young male's voice.

"Hello."

"_About time you answered Kudou I've been trying to get a hold of you for weeks!"_

"Gomenasai, Hattori."

"_Anyway did you hear about it on the news?"_

"Ran's missing? Yeah I know about it."

"_Not just that. Apparently she was kidnapped by some men dressed in black. Well, that's what Kazuha and Sonoko said."_

"Kazuha and Sonoko were with her?"

"_Yeah they said it happened about one week ago. They told me the two men told them to bring Shinichi in three weeks to tropical land or else they would kill her."_

"So I guess they finally found out that I am still alive."

"_Seems like it. So what are you going to do now?"_

"I'm going to save her, but I'll need your help."

"_That's a first; you never ask for my help."_

"Hattori now is not the time, are you going to help me or not?

"_Of course Kudou; you're like a brother to me."_

"Arigato Hattori. Can you meet me here at Doctor Agasa's place tomorrow?"

"_Yeah, I'll take a plane first thing in the morning."_

"Alright, see you then."Conan hung up his phone and slipped it back into his pocket.

"We wanna come too!" Conan looked over just in time to see the whole gang come busting through the door.

"_Shit! They must've heard our conversation." _Shinichi once again was at a loss for words. What was he supposed to do now? The last thing he wanted was them getting hurt too. He needed to come up with something fast or they might get hurt as well or worse killed.

"No, I need you guys to stay with Doctor Agasa, it's too dangerous for you guys."

"Ran is our friend too we wanna help!"

"No! listen! It is way too dangerous and you could be killed!

"We don't care!" Shinichi was furious now at this point. It was enough that Haibara was coming but if they came too he didn't know if he could bear losing them too. "The Detective Boys will find Ran and bring her home."

"I DON'T WANT YOU TO COME! Shinichi was on the verge of crying, something he never does. "You don't know what you're up against! You could die!

"WE ARE COMING TOO!" At this point he was fed up with arguing with everyone and just completely gave up.

"Fine! If you want to die so much then come along. I'm done!" Shinichi had enough. He walked past everyone out the door in the direction of his old home. They just stared after him as he shut the door behind him. Haibara knew exactly how he felt and it saddened her. He had been through so much in the past he really did not need this right now. Haibara and Agasa took matters into their own hands and decided to deal with the problem.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He's just having a bad night." Agasa responded. He felt sympathy for the boy too.

"We just wanted to help."

"I know but he's been through so much in the last few weeks, what you did was only make it harder on him." Agasa stated hoping that would convince them to stay behind. The three of them felt bad now for what they had done. "Conan has been through so much in his young life, the least you could do as his friends, is listen to him. After all this is something he has to do on his own."

"Why? Why won't Conan let us help him?" Ayumi asked sadly.

"I'm sure he'll tell you later but for now it would be a good idea to listen to him."

"But…"

"The Doctor is right. Conan only wants to keep you out of harm's way, so don't make this any harder on him." Haibara butted in.

The three looked at each other and nodded. They were completely stuck. They only wanted to help Conan find Ran but they didn't want to hurt their friend so they all agreed to stay behind. The three of them decided to go home so they said their goodbyes and headed home. Once they were completely out of sight Haibara grabbed her jacket and ran next door. She ran through the already open gate to the Kudou mansion. Once there she found Conan sitting on the front steps with his head in his hands. She walked up to the steps and sat down beside him.

"How you holding up Kudou?" Haibara asked sweetly

"Do you really have to ask? Shinichi sighed.

"Well, no but I could be a total ass to you if I wanted to. I could've told you to stop acting like a whiny bitch instead." Haibara smirked evily. Shinichi looked up at her and smiled.

"You know Haibara I kind of worry for you."

"Why's that Kudou?"

"I can't imagine you being a grandmother, you'd be mean as hell to your grandkids."

"Only if they pissed me off then I would probably threaten to throw them against the wall."

"So basically you're going to be a senile abusive old hag when you're older."

"Most likely. What about you?"

"I'll probably be that old geezer with Alzheimer's who strips down in the middle of public and runs around naked." Shinichi and Haibara both laughed this time.

"I still say you're 84." Shinichi stated.

"Ok, if I'm 84 what age are you 95?"

"No, I'm 104."

"Damn, you're old Kudou."

"I know, but at least you're young." Shinichi laughed.

"Pfff as if. I'm 19 and you're 18 I'm supposed to be older than you.

"I don't care. In my world you are younger than me."

"Fine, I won't argue with you there." The two of them sat on the steps for hours laughing and joking while looking up at the stars. The cool night air rushed past them and they felt almost at peace staying next to one another. Agasa stared at the two from his bedroom and smiled as he saw how happy Ai was when she was with Shinichi. Agasa pulled the curtains closed and lay down to sleep. Shinichi and Haibara on the other hand were still sitting next to each on the steps looking at the sleeping town. Haibara eventually leaned her head over on Shinichi's shoulder and fell asleep. He smiled and took off his jacket laying over the sleeping girl as she cuddled close to him for warmth.

After about an hour or so Shinichi picked up Haibara and carried her into his house. As she snuggled he carried her up the stairs to his room where he laid her on his bed covering her up with a blanket and tucking her in. He then grabbed a few blankets and created a pallet on the floor for him to sleep on. He checked to make sure all the doors were locked and then headed upstairs to bed. Tomorrow was going to be hell and I mean **it was going to be hell.**

**Okay, end of chapter 3 yayz! Hope you enjoyed. Be sure to leave a comment or suggestions. Stay tuned for ch 4. Bye peoplez Meggy luvz yu!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi welcome to chapter 4 of ASCAL hope you've enjoyed the story so far. This chapter gets a little crazy so watch out.**

**Chapter 4: From bad to worse**

The sun had just started coming up and the little rays of light shone through the curtains. A small sleeping figure lay wrapped up in the blankets like a cocoon. Haibara just started waking up when she heard a horrifying cough from the other side of the bed. As she rose up and looked over she saw Conan all curled up on the floor twisting and turning in his sleep. He was shaking like crazy too as he huddled up into a ball looking for warmth. At first she thought nothing of it so she got up and put a blanket around him, but after closely examining him she realized something was wrong. He was shaking too violently to just be cold. Haibara began to worry so she shook his shoulders lightly until he finally woke. Conan looked pale and sickly. Haibara sighed. _"He must've caught a cold while we were out last night, great that's all we need is something else that we have to deal with."_

Conan rose up and coughed. Haibara looked at the worn out face, it was so pale. He was sweating and coughing insanely and he didn't look like he had the energy to even function. _"This is not good." _Haibara thought, _"We've only got two days left to help Ran and if he gets sick that's going to cause a lot of problems."_ Conan coughed again and looked at Haibara.

"You look like hell Kudou."

"Thanks." Conan replied weakly. "So does your face."

Haibara just laughed. "So how're you feeling?"

"Like hell, what else."

"Well, you'd better get your lazy ass up. Heiji should be over pretty soon."

"Oh goody." Shinichi got to his feet but stumbled by doing so. Haibara helped him to his closet and he quickly changed clothes and then they headed out the door with Haibara practically dragging him with her. They managed to reach Agasa's house and knocked on the door waiting for a reply. Not even a moment later he opened the door and they headed inside. The doctor greeted them and Haibara dragged Shinichi to the nearest couch. Shinichi began to dose off again so she just moved over and let him lay down.

"Ai-kun, Shinichi-kun how are you."

"I'm ok, but the idiot over here caught a cold." Ai pointed to Conan.

"I heard that Haibara!" Shinichi opened one eye to glare at Haibara

"Sorry to hear that Shinichi-Kun. Let me go see if I have some medicine for you." As Agasa was off finding medicine for Shinichi Haibara sat on the couch with the young boy sleeping soundly next to her. She stroked his face with her fingertips and looked at his sweet face. She had to admit he was adorable when he slept.

Agasa returned a little while later with the medicine. **(If you already know, Agasa has a bad habit of mixing up regular medicine with Ai's experimental antidotes so don't be surprised if something happens.) **Shinichi rose up when Agasa re-entered with the **medicine.** He took it and then lay back down to rest while he waited patiently for Heiji to arrive.

Heiji finally arrived at about one. When he walked in he was greeted by Agasa and a sleeping Shinichi Kudou. Heiji made his way over to the sleeping boy on the couch and gently shook him till he woke. "Hey, sleeping beauty ready to go?" Conan looked up at Heiji and sighed. Never had he slept so good in his life and then to be woken up out of a sound sleep; that sucks. Conan looked like he was going to set Heiji ablaze with his eyes. He decided it was no use trying to sleep now that Heiji was here, so he forced himself to get up. He sat up and wiped the sleep from his eyes as he tried to concentrate on his surroundings. Everything seemed blurry for the moment. He rubbed his eyes once more trying to completely wake up.

Heiji looked at the boy and sighed, "Great, you ask for my help and then I find you here sleeping. Seriously what am I going to do with you Kudou?"

"Lay off."

Conan grunted and rose up from his slumber only to stagger and practically fall straight on his face. Heiji grabbed his arm just before he fell.

"If you're so tired then we should do this tomorrow."

"No! I don't have the time to sit around. I have to help Ran!" Conan yelled. Heiji was taken aback by this.

"Alright Kudou, then let's go." Heiji led Conan out the front door.

"Hold on Shinichi!" Haibara ran up to Conan just as he was leaving. "You might need this." Ai placed the small pill into his hand and whispered, "Remember you have 12 hours at the most."

"Yeah I know." He whispered back to her grabbing his bag and then continuing his way to the exit. Haibara was worried when he left. She kept thinking that if he used the prototype while he was sick he might have even less time. She hoped that nothing would go wrong today and that he could successfully achieve his plan.

Heiji and Conan walked together side by side the whole way to town. Heiji was the first to break the silence. "So what's our plan of action Kudou?" Conan didn't seem to be listening he was still trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes, but while doing so he nearly ran into a pole. "Watch out!" Hattori quickly grabbed him before it happened. "Where's your head today Kudou? You nearly smacked that pole." Heiji let go of Conan's jacket and they continued walking.

Conan rubbed his eyes once more then responded, "Gomenasai Hattori, I'm just a little tired that's all."

"Well you'd better wake up; we've got business to take care of."

"Yeah, yeah I heard you." Conan wiped his lenses and then put his glasses back on.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine let's go." Conan began to walk off not realizing he was heading right into ongoing traffic.

"Kudou!" Hattori yelled at him as he began to walk into the street nearly getting hit by a passing car. Hattori grabbed his hood and jerked him back before he walked in front of a speeding car. He noticed by the way Conan was acting there was seriously something wrong now. He decided to test Shinichi's vision. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Heiji held up three fingers.

"Hattori I'm not a little kid so don't treat me like one."

"How many?"

"Six, I think." Shinichi started rubbing his eyes trying to clear his vision.

"It's three." Shinichi just grunted. "I knew something was wrong with you. Tell me what's up, are you sick kiddo?" Hattori could already tell that that was so by the look on his face. Conan just nodded and coughed. There was no use lying to him.

Heiji sighed raising back to his feet. "If you're sick I think it would seriously be best for you to rest; we still have two days.

"No, I need to do this today. It's okay, I took some medicine at Doc's house."

"Okay, but if you get any worse I'm taking you back home got it?"

"Yeah, okay."

The two of them wandered around town as Shinichi tried his best to explain his plan of action. Halfway through the day Shinichi started feeling better, but then it got worse. Hattori decided he was going to take the squirt to lunch before they talked with Megure. As they rounded the corner, then it came, that excruciating, hellish burn that threatened to scorch his insides. Conan froze. Heiji was walking in front of him until he stopped to see why Conan was lagging behind. Shinichi started grabbing at his chest and gritting his teeth. He fell to his knees and gripped harder tugging at his jacket where his heart was. _"No! not this again!" _He mentally yelled.

"Kudou? Hey Kudou what's the matter?" Hattori ran over to Shinichi.

"M..My h…heart."

"What, what is it?"

"My heart it burns!"

"Kudou?"

"It feels like it's going to explode!" Shinichi then felt the throbbing in his chest.

"Not good!" Heiji then knew exactly what that meant. He remembered last time this happened when Shinichi had started to spazz out after solving the case of the shinigami and the double suicide of a wealthy mayor, who had died mysteriously. Heiji remembered that when it happened Shinichi had started gripping his chest violently and sweated heavily. He had used the excuse that the reason behind it was that Kudou had to use the restroom; in order not to arouse any suspicion of what was actually happening.

Heiji led Conan as fast as he could to the nearest restroom. It was lucky for them that they got there just in time and lucky no one else was in the restroom except them. Conan quickly ran into one of the stalls and shut the door. Heiji stood watch in front of the door while his friend lay panting on the other side waiting for the pain to pass. A moment later there was an ear piercing scream. When it was over there was complete silence, not a sound to be heard except the heavy breathing of Shinichi as he gasped for air. It seemed like he had been lying on the floor for hours before he forced himself up off of the cold tiled floor. He gripped the nearby wall trying to gain some sort of stability. Realizing he had absolutely no clothes on he walked himself over to his bag on the floor and pulled out his school uniform quickly slipping it on. He opened up the stall door and Heiji quickly moved to allow passage for the fatigued teen.

"Ok, what the hell Kudou that was unexpected. Think you could warn me that you're going to scream like a banshee before busting my eardrums and scaring the crap out of me."

" Shut up I didn't plan on that happening yet."

"Yet?"

"I was suppose to take the capsule before talking with Megure."

"Okay, then what was that all about?"

"I think the Doc gave me the wrong medicine again."

"Well he's already done it once it was only a matter of time before he did it again. Anyway how are you feeling now?"

"Like shit."

"Okay."

"Well come on, you try enduring a forced growth spurt and say you're not about ready to tear your hair out. You try to force yourself not to scream when it feels like your heart is exploding from the inside and your bones feel like they are being forcefully stretched.

"Okay, you got me. So you're okay now right? I mean I'm not going to call the paramedics or anything right?"

"No, not at the minute, but I'm warning you right now; don't be surprised if I spazz out again in a couple hours

"A couple hours?"

"I would originally have twelve hours but because of my sickness my time will most likely be shortened now."

"Okay, so then we better hurry our asses up. We need to head to Megure now right?"

"Yeah."

**I know the chapter is short and weird but bear with me. I'll make the next chapter better. Hope you enjoyed. Leave a comment if u feel like it. Ill respond asap. All suggestions are welcome. See ya later. Luvs u peoplez bye bye.**


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